Overview
The National Wealth Fund will receive funds from investment returns and any excess funds from oil and gas revenues.[4] The existence of the NWF helps with the credit rating for Russia, by providing a reserve to provide "resilience to short-term shocks".[29]
According to the Russian Ministry of Finance, the foreign debt securities the fund can invest in must have credit ratings of AA− or higher by Fitch or Standard & Poor's, or a rating of Aa3 by Moody's.[4] Despite this, the fund agreed to buy (on 17 December 2013) $15 billion of Ukrainian Eurobonds, despite the fact that Ukraine had lower credit ratings at the time.[4][30][31]
The NWF stands out from other global funds with it gathering investments into the national economy itself instead investing everything overseas, so it can provide a boost to the slow modernization of Russian infrastructure in a time of otherwise anemic investment. Other countries like Indonesia are following the Russian example in running a National Wealth Fund it is reported in 2020.[4] Of course, because of a lack of a real "hard currency" reserve, the fund can quickly lose value in a case of internal crisis.
In 2013, the NWF invested 150 billion rubles into the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Baikal-Amur railway.[32]
The NWF approved the investment of $4.2 billion into the state's nuclear energy corporation Rosatom in June 2014. Another $4.2 billion was invested into the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which used a portion for two regional internet connection projects in December 2014. In December 2014, the NWF invested in VTB, Gazprombank and Rosselkhozbank equity. An additional 30-year deposit was made by the NWF to help the VTB bringing the total investment to $5.5 billion.[1]
In 2016, NWF had invested $2.6 billion in the Yamal LNG plant.[33]
In 2020, NWF bought 50% +1 share in Sberbank from Russia's Central Bank.[34]
Starting from 2024, the NWF will invest $3.2 billion in an $11.2b project to build 600 civilian aircraft which will be sold to airlines at a below cost price.[35]
There was an increase in oil and gas revenues in the first four months of 2024, but the Russian Ministry of Finance still reported that the NWF funds were used to cover profit shortages.[36]
